An Oakland-based nonprofit called CyArk is using 3D technology to scan the historic missions in an effort to preserve them, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The idea is to make a virtual 3D model of the structures, so if they’re damaged in earthquakes or fires, for example, the model provides a precise outline down to the millimeter for easier reconstruction.

CyArk is the brainchild of retired civil engineer Ben Kacyra, who helped develop a portable 3D laser scanner that can send out 50,000 beams a second.

Kacyra, 72, said the device’s invention was inspired by the Taliban’s destruction of two, 1,500-year-old Buddha statues in Afghanistan in 2001. “This was a concentrated effort to destroy history by people who didn’t agree with it,” he said.

So far, CyArk’s team has recorded 70 sites, including the Japanese-American internment camp at Manzanar, ruins at Pompeii, Italy, and a Frank Lloyd Wright synagogue in Pittsburgh.

A current project involves recording California’s 21 historic missions, four presidios and three pueblos over the next two to three years. Most of the project’s $700,000 to $800,000 cost will be paid by preservation groups and private donations.